Strategies for Pest Control for City and Country

City and country life differ in a variety of ways, but certain species have managed to adapt to basically all living conditions. Raccoons learn to live in garbage cans and squirrels use wires to make it from tree to tree. Rats and mice stop settling for living in the barn, and start wanting to head straight for the food sources in your kitchen. Pest control does depend on where you are, but there are also some universal truths in keeping them away.

Adding to Subtract

It’s not an old-fashioned concept to get a cat to protect from rodents, and in farm houses everywhere felines have a job just like everyone else in the family. These cats will mainly hang out in the barns on their own. Of course, you may not want to add a cat to your household if you live in an apartment above a busy street. In both areas, it’s likely that everyone is familiar with the use of traps. Whether it’s humane traps or the old-fashioned kind, one major mistake homeowners make is not having enough of them. Rodents can use their teeth to gnaw through practically anywhere, so the entrances and exits of a home may not be enough. Traps can be set closer together (2 feet) if you have mice, but farther apart (15–20 feet) for rats. Poison traps should not be used if you have kids or pets, as you can’t watch them at all times.

Cleaning It Up

Field and country mice and rats have excellent senses of smell, and they can use your clothes as their nesting places. For large country homes especially, there may be rooms you don’t go in for months. Food and clothes should always be off the floor at all times. Even a spill of syrup or anything of the kind that hasn’t been thoroughly scrubbed away can be enough to send out the right sensors to rats and mice.

Unfortunately, mice and rats can reproduce extremely quickly once they set up shop in your home, so you don’t have a lot of time before things get out of control. Keeping them away before they get in will be much easier than trying to catch every last one of them. If you need additional help, call Preventive Pest Control today.